Remembering a Fearless Traveler

Today we lost a friend and a fellow traveler after a long battle with breast cancer: Trisha Creekmore, a TravelChannel.com contributor, who wrote about going au naturel in the Caribbean, adrenaline highs in Peru, and yes, even finding pirates. Trish’s animated, energetic and fearless voice, along with her irrepressible sense of adventure, inspired all of us to seize the day. Simply put, she represented the spirit of a true traveler.

That same spirit became her mantra in her fight against cancer. To say she lived her life to the fullest would be an understatement: Following her diagnosis in 2003, Trish committed to traveling more. Soon she did just that, setting off with her husband David and 2 small daughters to places far and wide, from an epic 4-week trip to the Middle East to a Christmas getaway in the Yucatan. She even signed up with the circus, performing a trapeze act at DC’s Trapeze School of New York.

But Trish’s experiences were not just her own. She made sure of that through her social media campaign, “Cancerpalooza,” in which she empowered fellow cancer survivors and their families to find a shared sense of community and yes, humor, through what Trish simply called a “nasty disease.” With a life-affirming, rock star defiance, Trish continued to travel the world with her family, packing in enough adventures to fill a lifetime and then some. (That includes, in true Trish fashion, collecting rockstar boob-ographs from the likes of Ozzy Osbourne.)

Trish’s husband David blogged about her unbelievable journey each week, providing family, friends and outsiders with an honest perspective of what living with cancer really meant to Trish and her immediate family. The amazing partnership that Trish and David shared led South by Southwest to invite the two to speak about Crowdsourcing Cancer Support at their annual event this past year. Then the cancer returned.

Today, in remembering Trish, we’d like to share a few of her words with you, so that you can see the world — if only for a few minutes — from the perspective of a true adventurer. Read about her family adventure in Egypt, and learn more about her, and Cancerpalooza, on her blog.

October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So whether you’re traveling or not, we ask that you take time out to honor breast cancer survivors and remember those whom we’ve lost, but who lived their lives with strength, humor and good courage.

You have my sympathies, I lost my husband to cancer on October 12, 2011, we made 5 wonderful trips to Hawaii, on our 5th trip we renewed our vows on Waikiki Beach – it meant to much to both of us. Take care, Karol Gaines, Savoy, Il.

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Allee SangioloA Boston native and Washington, DC, resident, Allee has been growing her bucket list since she began working as an Interactive Producer for TravelChannel.com. When not playing with her Frenchie...